okay no i lied i’m not shutting up about this so good afternoon and welcome to my tessa talk, in which i (tessa) talk about the indian characters in marvel and dc that could have and should have been used in their live action properties, if only the (mostly white, and mostly men, lbh) people in charge cared enough.
let’s jump into marvel first!
do you know who shri is? in the comics, she went to the pan-asian school for the unusually gifted and has powers that point towards her being either durga’s reincarnation or her avatar.
pom pom was shri’s classmate and has, you guessed it, pom poms made out of organic matter that she generates herself. and she can bind and ensnare people with it.
do you know michaela ladak? fashion queen. mutant who can solidify her own spit. which is a bit of a strange mutation but you know what? aim right and you can take someone’s eye out. knows ice man.
jackie chopra? canonically the daughter of the character played by the dude who also played jon snow in the eternals. helps him wield the ebony blade. if eternals has a sequel, i’d like to see jackie be a part of it.
raz malhotra? giant man. took over the mantle from hank pym, i think? gay. iconic. is dating this guy named isaac in the comics, iirc. he could easily take over from scott lang if/when he retires.
radha dastoor, aka haven. rich. genuinely kind. deserved better writers. deserves her own movie. and the same goes for her brother, aloba. google her and her backstory. you’ll know what i mean.
dinesh deol is an inhuman who lost both of his hands after he gained his powers. now he has two metal hands which he made for himself - very impressive - and tries to get a handle on his magnetokinesis and his other abilities.
shakti haddad can trash your nervous system. she can also track you down if you have powers. which is why her code name is cerebra. she can also kick your ass the regular way because she’s trained in martial arts. in another universe, she can reveal everything about you through mere touch.
paras gavaskar doesn’t just rock the purple, but also a retractable exo-skeleton suit. also, he had the right idea when he coined ‘indra’ as his super hero name. i, too, would name myself after the armorer of heaven after my mutant powers - granting me armor - manifested. he’s a vegetarian and, according to the yearbook, reliable and all around a good boy.
pavitr prabhakar is an alternate version of peter parker. but, you know, indian. worries a lot about his place in the universe. worries that he’s but a reflection of peter parker. has a cool outfit. especially the earrings. someone should hug this guy.
karima shapandar is more machine than person. has been through a lot of retcons. deserves her own d+ miniseries detailing her life and job. had a relationship with neal shaara for a while.
neal shaara can convert heat and generate solar energy. i don’t know why he picked thunderbird as an alias, but okay.
rina patel has bonded with venom in one universe, is called ms slip in the marvel noir universe, has time powers in another universe and has recently made an appearance in the comic book world in which she works against the champions if i remember correctly. in any case, i would want to see her in her prime hero days in which she interacts with the new warriors.
shilpa khatri is a recent addition to superhero canon. called out the pay gap in india. actually did something about it by using her technopath abilities to drain said rich people’s bank accounts and give back the money to the people said rich people screwed over. one of my favorites. is in either a flirtationship or an actual relationship with gentle aka nehzno abidemi and yes, they’re my otp.
raani jatwinder is also another favorite of mine. mutant. lives/works in london. technopath. has cool hair.
qureshi gupta should be played by sunny parwar if/when that character gets introduced. nicknamed pinpoint he can, you guessed it, teleport. has cool teal colored hair.
parul kurinji’s alias is zero/one which is badass. she can shapeshift her limbs into whichever weapon she needs whether this is energy projection or force fields or something else entirely. she can fly just a little bit and has minor time based abilities, too.
sapna is my absolute favorite. a little cutie pie who can speak every language ever and controls demons. get her in a doctor strange movie asap!
sati is a superhero in india, named after brahma’s granddaughter. she can fly, has super strength, is basically invulnerable and has declared herself it’s protector.
skanda is either a god or a hero. or maybe both. also a protector of india. his code name is a cool mythological nod, too.
krista marwan kind of got the same treatment that radha / haven did. seriously, what is it with marvel? why do they have such a hard on for this?
garabed bashur is a deadpool villain, has electric telepathy or something. his code name is black box which is cool.
rana mousabi is a secret agent, an excellent shot, a fashion icon because she looks cute in her hijab and has matched it to her outfit whilst in the field. according to the wikia, she’s dead, but hey, let her live her second and best life in live action, am i right?
all of them are indian characters that marvel easily could have used in their live action properties. a couple of years ago, i read the comic that shri and pom-pom were in (a prelude to thanos arriving on earth) and i was so excited that i tweeted at the writer whose name i forgot (to this day i still don’t know why a white man was writing asian and black characters but okay) but whose reaction i can still recall because i got the most lukewarm response ever back.
so let’s shift it over to dc because i cannot believe we only got brainy in supergirl who got his happy ending and made it to the end without dying (yes i will judge them forever and a day for killing off jack spheer and william dey).
what about jinx? who is most decidedly not gray skinned and pink haired (looking @ you animated series!)
or roshana chatterjee? ace queen who is super powerful but also kind. is part of a cool looking superhero team.
or kiran singh, who canonically has powers on raven’s level to the point where her powers of light make raven uncomfortable. she’s been a part of the teen titans. and to this day i still think that turning her into a slab of rock is bullshit. so reverse that and give her a show of her own.
arani desai, aka celsius. part of doom patrol. which, i must admit, i haven’t seen but a quick google search reveals she was in the show. but she was only in one episode. and i think she’s one of the first - if not the first - dc superheroes to be of south asian descent so i think they should do better.
aruna shende, shapeshifter, actress, stuntwoman. born in the slums. took the name of a male mythological figure. her powers manifested when she was young. helped batwoman out once (!!) and then vowed to use her powers for good. according to the wikia, her parents were never quite sure of her gender and so i am just gonna throw it out there: genderfluid aruna shende who’s out there living life and saving people.
chandi gupta, aka maya; a member of the european justice league. (as a european, i didn’t know that was a thing, either ;P) does archery like a badass. (@ green arrow: hello??? why’d you never take her on as your protege, huh?! why didn’t she ever meet speedy and/or red arrow, huh?!) has energy construct powers. can grant herself and other people abilities. has super strength and speed.
ava, aka freak, was born in india, became a host to an alien at some point which granted her prehensile hair, part of doom patrol at some point, is cute.
jaina hudson aka white rabbit is a gotham city sociallite and villainess who deserves a better defined power set and a better look because come on? a brown woman becoming lighter skinned when she uses her powers? can you say whitewashing?!
queen cobra is part of black adam’s entourage and i hope she’s in his movie, at least. her get up is really cool.
kali gari is on the list because she may be a villain but she has cool powers.
levi kamei aka the new swamp thing. the swamp thing show got cancelled. perfect time to reboot it but this time, with levi (and his brother jacob) at the center.
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For the kink meme Give me a kink, and I’ll make a top 10 of the ships I like to read it for, I’ve been asked for tentacles. Yay!
First, I like better to read fic when the tentacles are somehow canon-adjacent, not for realistic fandoms. Art is different, I’ve been enjoying lots of OFMD art with symbolic kraken tentacles. But it’s a reading meme!
1 - Kumi/Yuri (Alien Nine)
Canon alien tendril tentacles that come with an urge for mental fusion, sign me in. (No porn, they’re kids, but the trop wasn’t tentacle porn ^^)
2 - Bill/Ford (Gravity/Falls)
I commissioned this art from @cirilee years ago, I hope they don’t mind me sharing it? But yeah, this ship has dreams encounters with shapeshifting, so many possibilities! And it’s also one of my all-time fave ships, so...
3 - Elias/Chise (The Ancient Magus Bride)
The tentacle hugs are one of the things that sold me the ship. ^^
4 - Venom/Eddie (Venom)
The tentacle ship on tumblr, and it deserves it.
5 - Karima Shapandar/Callisto (X-men)
They met once. But they were incredibly flirty and this was during the time Callisto has tentacles and also I love them both.
6 - Londo/G’Kar (Babylon 5)
I decided unilaterally that six prehensiles penises count as tentacles. It’s a bit of a cheat, that’s why it’s not higher, but it’s one of my all times favourite ships.
7 - The End/Oliver (The Magnus Archives)
I’m very much into religious kink, so when your god manifest to you in your dreams as a mass of dark tendrils, I’m having bad ideas immediately.
8 - Celty/Shinra (Durarara!!)
Celty can do what she wants with the shadows, including this! Not sure it would be one of her first thoughts. It would be one of Shinra’s thoughts, though ^^
9 - Doug/Warlock (New Mutants)
I ship them too hard not to give them a place when there’s shapeshifting involved and it’s definitely possible. Not my first kink with them but it’s certainly here!
10 - May/Olivia (Into the Spider-verse)
I ship it, also hot.
[Edit] Oh, I can’t believe I forgot! I love them so much! It’s just that the tentacles appear just one time.
2.5 - Cable/Deadpool
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